Sunday 12th November 19.20 - *Event Complete* On Stand at Heathrow Terminal 4
After 6 Hours 3 Minutes from New York we are on Stand at Heathrow.
The crew are going to get some well earned rest and would like to thank everyone involved in this years event. We are planning to be back in Feb/March Time for Simfest Part 3.
Below are some Videos
Pictures:-
Sunday 12th November 19.20 - *Still* Enroute to London
We are approaching 20W and will be entering Shannons airspace in the next hour or so.
Here is a picture Mark took becuase he wanted to prove all the displays are independant.
Sunday 12th November 17.57 -Enroute to London
We are on our final leg enroute to London. The crew are trying to keep themselves entertained, so again the Borat sound clips come out. Gary also noted that the seats recline fully flat to make a bed!
Pictures
Climbout from JFK
Enroute to Oceanic Airspace
Captain Tom does his impression of an Angry passenger.
Turbulance!
Evening over the Atlantic (Note the High N1 due to extremely warm temperatures)
Sunday 12th November 14.24 - New York, New York
We are on stand at New York with about 50ft Visibility, thankfully Andy knows his way around and found the British Airways terminal for us. We are now preparing for the longest leg of the route yet. New York - Heathrow.
Sunday 12th November 11.07- Chicago to New York
We are now on our way to New York. Below are pictures of the flight into and out of Chicago. Capt Mark and F/O Andy are currently on the flightdeck.
Pictures:-
Taxing to Parking
Climbout from Chicago
Sunday 12th November 11.07- Enroute to Chicago
We departed Denver at 09.50 after a rest stop last night.
After some confusion finding the runway resulting in a 2 mile taxi we departed with some ATC again.
During climb out just as Andy suggested we turn off the seatbelt signs we hit some CB clouds and some heavy turbulance.
We are now about 40 minutes out of Chicago.
Here is a picture of the CB's.
Sunday 00.15 - Landed At Denver
We are now on Stand at Denver after some FANTASTIC controlling. We are now shutting the plane down for the night and will start again at 9am with a slight change of plan to go KDEN-KORD-KJFK-EGPF-EGLL as the crew need some rest.
VIDEO OF AIRCRAFT ABOVE AT 1000FT
Some Pictures
Lots of Traffic
Saturday 10th November 22.07 - Its 10 O'clock, Its Dark and we are wearing sunglasses.... Lets go to denver!
We are now enroute to Denver after a quick turn around.
Saturday 10th November 21.00 Vancouver Report.
Mark and Gary are now on stand at Vancouver planning for a departure to denver after an excellent landing with brilliant scenery.
Pictures as follows.
Turning towards Vancouver On Approach
Nice Scenery! Unfortunately we had less fuel than Andy landed with on the last flight!
Thank God we Didn't Go Around!
Saturday 10th November 15.34 Fuel Concerns
We are currently enroute worrying about whether Capt Andy's decision to take less fuel that on the flight plan was a good one or not. We are currently experiencing 40knot headwinds and are already 6tonnes under what we were expeciting to have on board at this point. The worst part is there are no airports we can divert to on the way!
Saturday 10th November 14.04 Northern Lights
Amazing!
Saturday 10th November 12.54 On Stand at UHPP in Russia
Well that had to be the most interesting flight yet. Half way through the cruise the AutoThrottle went inop, meaning Gary was flying for 3 hours on manual throttles.
The approach to the airport involves flying in Meters rather than feet through very mountainous terrain, thank god for terrain radar.
During the approach it became apparent that Andy's flying yesterday crippled the plane and we landing with the following items broken:-
- Flaps Not locking into position, we recon we landed on flaps 21 1/2 degrees!
- ILS Inoperative
- No Autothrottle
All This with about 1000ft visibility, severe turbulance and a thunderstorm.
Good Job this is the Simfest, we should probably have diverted.
Videos and Picutres to follow soon.
Saturday 10th November 10.10.....
Unfortunately both crew members slept through their alarm clock today and ended up leaving Tokyo 01.39 behind schedule. We are hoping to catch up time due to a 100knot tailwind again.
Saturday 10th November 01.28.....
Landed (Just) at Tokyo. Andy and Tom managed to get the aircraft down in record time, flying manually, F16 styley at just below overspeed all the way down the glideslope executing a smooth landing about 5 mins after leaving 37,000ft! 2 Pictures and Video Below:-
VIDEO OF LANDING (DIVE BOMBING) AT TOKYO
Saturday 11th November 00.22 You Can tell Andy (Concorde) Wilsons Flying
Friday 10th November 23.39 Near Miss Over the China Sea
Enroute to Tokyo the following event occured... Still not sure how it got in the paper so quick...
Friday 10th November 22.39 Enroute to Tokyo
We departed 38Minutes ahead of schedule and are on target for a 0130z arrival into Tokyo thanks to Andy (Concorde) Wilsons 320kt departure, although we did have to tell him to slow down when we saw plasma coming off the nose of the aircraft. It is also getting Light!
Friday 10th November 21.30 Minor Problem
Unfortunately we are having issues entering the route into the FMC, but dont worry no one looks at all confused!
Friday 10th November 21.30 On stand At Hong Kong
Mark performed an excellently smooth landing in Hong Kong 36 Minutes ahead of schedule. The flight involved an exciting approach over Lantau Island and Discovery Bay although unfortunately it was far too foggy for any sightseeing. It is almost Dawn over here in Asia and we are just preparing for departure from Hong Kong.
Some Pictures of the Arrival Into Hong Kong
Friday 10th November 19.46 Current Progress
We are currently enroute to Hong Kong after an uneventful flight from Calcutta to Bangkok. We are running about 50 mins early, the crew are entertaining themselves with a game of 'Fix Page Battleships'.
Friday 10th November 15.52 On Stand At Calcutta
The landing in Calcutta involved a DME arc to the ILS approach on Runway 19L. The runway was not visible until about 800 feet when F/O Gary Oliver took control to execute a manual landing. We arrived 2 minutes late.
The flight crew spent most of the flight deciding whether Capt Tom's trousers looked more like a picnic blanket or a airline blanket. We also decided that next year we need to fly to Almaty so we can recite Borat quotes to ATC.
We also ensured that the all Minimum Equipment List items were available for tonights flights. Food and Drink!
Here are some pictures:-
Artistic Shot!
Things get a little Kinki in the cockpit!
The Arrival Programmed in.
Friday 10th November 12.50 On Stand at Mumbai
We are now on stand at a foggy mumbai. A manual landing was performed perfectly. We even had ATC on the way in!
During approach the flight crew could smell burning oil in the flight deck, we thought there was an issue with an engine, until we realised it was our neighbours having their drive way re tarmaced!!!!
Friday 10th November 11:31 Enroute to Mumbai
Following last nights late night we pushed back a few minutes late this morning but due to a 80knot tailwind we are looking to arrive 30 minutes ahead of schedule in a hot yet hazy Mumbai.
On pushback from Dubai the APU Bleed Valve got stuck, luckily an engineer was on board and resolved the issue .
Friday 10th November 02:55 On Stand At Dubai
After landing at Kuwait we managed to recieve an ATC slot to get to dubai tonight to avoid the early start in the morning. We are now parked on stand at Dubai after a nice straight in approach to 12R. So far all 3 landings have been really good with no need for the brace position. The flight crew are now checking into the hotel and will be departing Dubai at approx 10am tomorrow morning.
9th November 23:00 Enroute to Kuwait
After a flawless first flight we are now well on our way to Kuwait, expecting an early landing. Here are some pics Andy brought along with him from test flights and the flight itself.
9th November 19:43 Enroute to Athens
Our Current ETA to Athens is 21:30z 10 minutes late. We have full control over europe and the sim is running well.
9th November 18:30z - Preparing For Departure
Unforunately the first officer is running late, we are waiting his arrival and will be pushing back at approximately 19:00
6th November 21:51z - Preperations Underway
Preperations for the event are well under way. The route is set and the sim is ready. Stay tuned here for the latest flight information.